Correction

A reliable source has told me that ADN reporters are to leave corrections to their editors, and the editors did make the correction today on David Shurtleff's position at the Berkowitz campaign. I was also told that the ADN takes their corrections seriously. The correction was already in the works before I posted yesterday.


But as I mentioned in the earlier post, there are still questions about how corrections are handled - intentionally and unintentionally - for the online stories, which, for most of us, will be the story of record when we've recycled our newspapers.

The online story says:

...Berkowitz spokesman David Shurtleff said in an e-mail...

This is the corrected version, but there's no hint that there was an incorrect version. The best blogs will go back and do it this way:

...Berkowitz campaign manager [spokesman] David Shurtleff said in an e-mail...[[MPB made an excellent suggestion to also include the date of the correction]] [[August 18, 2008]]

to show the original and the corrected version.

So Where's this?

Nobody identified where I snapped the muskoxen picture.

Here's a really easy one. Where is this?

Jack Dalton and Raven's Radio Hour - Starts Sunday August 17

I got this message forwarded to me today. Jack Dalton is a terrific actor/story teller. He has a great natural presence and is a truly nice guy besides. I'm going to try to catch at least one of the performances:

Sundays through Wednesdays, August 17 to September 16, at 7pm. (more specifics below)

I saw two different performances of My Heart Runs in Two Directions at Once
and they were both good, but not exactly alike.

And you can eat real Alaska Native food! Something you can't do easily in Anchorage if you don't have family or good friends who invite you to have real stuff.

Here's the email:


Dear Friends! Exciting news!
Starting this Sunday, August 17, at 7pm, an Alaska Native theatre company at
the Alaska Native Heritage Center truly becomes a public event. The
ANHC proudly presents "Raven's Radio Hour: 90 minutes of fun, fun, fun, fun
. . . a two hours show," a gleeful romp through the Alaska Native world in
the style of a 40s variety radio show. Starring Raven, played by Alaska
Native storyteller Jack Dalton, and featuring the Alaska Native Heritage
Players: Christina Gagnon, Ethan Petticrew and Allison Warden.

And there's more! It's also a dinner theatre, well, perhaps "cafe" or "deli"
theatre is a better description. Truly entertaining light fare and Native
favorites, like caribou stew, salmon spread with Sailorboy Pilotbread, and a
variety of desserts, including Marge's World Famous Agutaq.
Showtimes are Sundays through Wednesdays, August 17 to September 16, at 7pm.
Tickets are $20 per person. Seating is cabaret-style and limited, so
advanced reservations required. The show is about 120 minutes with a
15-minute intermission, and not recommended for childen under the age of
16.
Please share with all your friends, relatives and colleagues! And I look
forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.
Thank you again for all of your support.
Jack.

Raven Feathers & the Wind
storytelling, writing, teaching and spirituality
2207 Spenard Road, Ste 102, Anchorage, Alaska 99503
phone 907-227-4428, fax 907-272-0757
booking and schedule info 907-227-4428
info@ravenfeathers.com
www.ravenfeathers.com

Kyle and Sean - Blogging style slipping into their reporting?

I was a little surprised reading Kyle Hopkins and Sean Cockerham's front page piece on Governor Palin yesterday. It was all very properly newsy until we got to the last paragraph of the page which began:

If you've been asleep all week, here's the recap:

Both these reporters work hard and the ADN has them working both as straight news guys on the print version and bloggers online. And I'm sure it's hard to keep those two roles straight. But what about the editor? Or have they decided that chatty is ok on the front page?

And Sean, after reading your article on Ashley Reed, I just called David Shurtleff to congratulate him on his promotion to campaign manager, but he assured me that Joe Hardenbrook still has that job, and that he (David) is still the press guy.

I just got the links to these stories - the Palin story and the Reed story - and I see that in the latter, Shurtleff is now listed as campaign spokesman. So how does it work now? No more corrections? You just go in and change the story? How's that going to affect the newspaper as a source of history if people can just go in and change the story whenever? Hard copy documents may not be as easy to access, but at least the stories don't change while they are on the shelf.

I want you all to understand that this is just a friendly observation. Unlike some of my blogging compatriots, I recognize that the ADN's financial uncertainties are putting a strain on everyone there. I appreciate that they put up a lot of good sources and give links to court documents saving me the trouble of having to look them up myself. These are good guys doing good work under difficult circumstances. But the issue about changing the record IS an important issue.

On this blog, I've set up a rule for myself that if I'm making minor spelling and typo corrections, or cleaning up the language of a sentence without affecting the content, I don't leave tracks that I've made changes. But if I'm making substantive corrections - like correct identification of someone's job title - I strikeout the old language and put the new language in with [brackets]. That let's my readers know that I've gone in and made changes. The ADN has a corrections box, but although they fixed this online, it didn't show up in the corrections in today's paper.

Good Grief - " Federal attorneys have been manipulated into a partisan political attack on Stevens."

As I've read the stories each day back and forth about Ted Stevens, I've consoled myself that, given the Justice Department has been Republican controlled for almost eight years, that no one can say this is a partisan attack on Ted Stevens.

What is a partisan attack?

Partisan originally comes through the French from the Italian and referred to a member of an army, who was fighting for a cause. As the term has evolved in the United States and been attached to the word "political" it has been connected to the idea of a person who believes strongly in his political party and makes decisions, not based on law or reason, but on what will help the party. The old spoils system of the late 1800's and early 1900's was highly partisan as people were given government jobs if their party won office.

So, in the US we have come to distinguish politics - the generic exercise of power ideally for the public good - from partisan politics - where power is used purely to support one's party. Municipal elections in Anchorage are supposed to be non-partisan. Candidates are not nominated by parties and their party affiliations are not on the ballot, even though assembly members generally are members of parties.

Imagine the loud screams and accusations if there were a Democrat in the White House and the Justice Department was going after Stevens. We would hear no end of attacks on the miscreants in the Justice Department and the White House who were using their sacred power for partisan political ends.

But this is a Republican administration that has been in charge of the Justice Department investigating Republicans, so at least this is one thing I needn't worry about.

But if I thought no one would say this was a partisan political attack on Stevens, I was wrong.

Imagine my chagrin when I read Jim Crawford's Compass piece in today's [by the time I post this it will be yesterday's] Anchorage Daily News.

Federal attorneys have been manipulated into a partisan political attack on Stevens.

There's empty space there as I shake my head in disbelief and I try to find something to say more original than "Give me a break!" This is the Justice Department that has just, finally, after a few years of allegations, discovered that career employees (not political appointees) were routinely hired or not because of political affiliation. (That is partisan politics, Jim.) This is a Republican administration and, if you didn't notice, Ted Stevens is running as a Republican.

THIS IS NOT A PARTISAN POLITICAL ATTACK!!!!!!

And, by the way, who exactly is doing this manipulation of the Federal attorneys? I've seen them in action in three trials now and I can't imagine them being manipulated easily. They do their homework and they're damn good. Was it the Attorney General who manipulated them? Maybe George Bush? Or do Senate Democrats have moles in the Justice Department who have turned these guys to the dark side? Maybe they're being blackmailed by Mark Begich spies who videotaped them hunting bear illegally in Girdwood. Did you leave out the name of the dastardly manipulator(s) so we would have to read your next column to find out?

At least Crawford cut out his nonsense about the Hatch Act which appeared in the Fairbanks Daily News-miner version of this piece:

The Hatch Act forbids federal employees, specifically those from the Department of Justice, from playing campaign politics. The U. S. attorney, FBI and Justice Department are playing campaign politics. Dirty campaign politics. Huey Long, Louisiana-style, hardball, campaign politics. They violate the Hatch Act they are charged to enforce.

Well, not exactly. The original Hatch Act forbade federal employees from taking part in partisan political campaigns. It was passed by Republicans who wanted to stop Franklin D Roosevelt from using federal employees to work on his reelection. Not only can't they work during working hours, but they weren't allowed to be involved in federal elections on their own time either. The Hatch Act was significantly amended in 1993 to allow many federal employees to take part in campaigns. But I haven't seen any Begich signs up yet on the sides of the FBI or Federal Buildings.

The FBI and Justice attorneys' job is to follow up leads on wrong doing and to go after violators regardless of party affiliation. It would be unethical of them to NOT pursue an investigation simply because the subject was an important politician of the same political party as the administration.

The Justice Department - and other federal departments - are never supposed to go after people purely for political reasons. I'm glad that Jim Crawford is such a strong advocate of keeping politics out of normal government functions. I wonder why I didn't see a compass piece from him when it was revealed earlier that political appointees in the Bush administration were firing Attorneys for not going after trumped up charges against Democratic elected officials. Once again, everyone sing the chorus, this is a Republican administration here prosecuting a Republican Senator. That is hardly the normal definition of partisan politics.


The Girdwood House Assessments

Most of the article makes the half point that Sen. Stevens' Girdwood home was assessed at $142,000 in FY 2001 and $271,300 in FY 2003, for a difference of only $123,700 (land value excluded). Therefore, he argues, that the $130,000 Sen. Stevens' paid for the remodeling is equal to the value of the improvement. Case closed.

He starts the article by saying he's been in real estate for 30 some years. Then, surely he knows that when someone does remodeling, the COST - the money it takes to do the work for things like supplies, hourly wages, etc - does not necessarily lead to an equal increase in the value of the home. If you paint your walls magenta using paint hand made from fireweed petals at a cost of $100 per gallon, you probably will not increase the value of the house equal to the cost of the paint. You may well lower the value of your house.

Over the years I've read countless articles in the ADN, such as this one (not from ADN) that talk about what sort of remodel will have the best impact on the value of your house. A good kitchen remodel, if I recall correctly, usually gives the most bang for the buck. I don't recall ever seeing an article suggesting that lifting the ground floor and sliding in a new ground floor under the original was a sure money maker. I suspect it would have been much more cost effective for the Stevens to buy a new house.

The amount of benefit is the cost of the labor and materials put into the house, NOT the increase in the value of the house. Nice try Jim. But I'll hand it to you, the matching figures were probably just too much to resist. (I didn't look these up to check Crawford's claim) But that's not how campaign watchdog agencies count these things. It does make a kind of sense if you forget that the value in this context is the amount Bill Allen is out of pocket, not the potential money you could get for selling the house.

And Crawford cleverly, unfortunately too cleverly for his own good, pays Mark Begich, Stevens' Democratic opponent for the US Senate, a compliment in order to strengthen his own argument here about property assessments:

Assessments, by Alaska statutes, must be at full market value and Mayor Mark Begich has done a good job at making certain that properties are at full value. Municipal tax revenue depends upon it.

Oh Jim, you sell real estate. That must have been really hard to write with a straight face. Oh, and there's one, teeny weeny problem here. Crawford cites the assessments for the years 2001 and 2003. Mark Begich didn't take office until April 2003. I don't know for sure if the 2003 assessment comes out in 2003 or 2004, but clearly the 2001 assessment was before Begich and he probably didn't have time yet to affect the 2003 assessment. But if he did make changes, then the increase in the property assessment would have at least partially reflected the more accurate assessment that Crawford implies that the Begich administration implemented, not just the increase in value due to the remodeling.

OK, I assume that Jim Crawford, a former Chair of the Republican Party (in the grand tradition of Rudy Ruedrich?) has promised to publicly support Ted Stevens, but why do something that is so full of holes? Why does the ADN have to publish this sort of nonsense? Let him put it on the Voice of the Times Website, that's what it's there fore.

My regular readers are going to wonder at my tone in this piece. My wife's already in bed and I didn't give her a chance to look through it and make suggestions. I did cut some snark out. . But Crawford's piece is just so far over the line, so inaccurate, so illogical, so transparently a piece of political bluster, that keeping my sarcasm in check has been really hard.

I agree with those who say Stevens has done many fine things for the State of Alaska. And maybe a judge will take that into consideration if this gets to sentencing . But this sort of political hack job makes him look pathetic.

Oh, yes, here are some definitions of partisan I checked while writing this.

From etymonline:

partisan (n.)
1555, "one who takes part with another, zealous supporter," from M.Fr. partisan (15c.), from dial. upper It. partezan (Tuscan partigiano) "member of a faction, partner," from parte "part, party," from L. partem (nom. pars), see part (n.). Sense of "guerilla fighter" is first recorded 1692. The adj. is 1708 for warfare, 1842 for politics

From yourdictionary.com

noun

1. a person who takes the part of or strongly supports one side, party, or person; often, specif., an unreasoning, emotional adherent
2. any of a group of guerrilla fighters; esp., a member of an organized civilian force fighting covertly to drive out occupying enemy troops

Etymology: MFr <>partigiano < parte <>pars, part

adjective

1. of, like, or characteristic of a partisan
2. blindly or unreasonably devoted
3. of or having to do with military partisans

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary only defines the noun partisan:

a firm adherent to a party, faction, cause, or person; especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance




Onpedia's dictionary gives us a definition for the adjective, the way Crawford uses it.

.	partisan - devoted to a cause or party nonpartisan, - free from party affiliation or bias

Brideshead Revisited - New Movie revisits the old book and tv series

Doug, you shouldn't have left so soon. We needed you at dinner after watching this movie to fill in some of the questions we had about class and school in England. I'll get to that later.

The title gives away a lot. We'll be revisiting Brideshead often. And the movie will visually be in and out of the shadows, blacks and whites, reflecting how we see all the characters - partially revealed partially in the dark. Sometimes I think the directors have a good laugh as people read all sorts of things into their films. But I was struck, over and over again by how people walked in and out of shadows; how only one side of a face was lit, the other dark; how the light danced - on cigarette smoke, on the shimmering walls of the canal.

When I took a photo class long ago, I remember that an ideal photo had in it some total white and total black. As you watch the clips, you'll see the cameraman does that in many (most?) scenes. I need to go back and see if that is true throughout. Even outside in sunshine, there's the black band on the white hat, or shadow masking some part of the frame.
Matthew Goode, as Charles, stood out as the student who goes to Oxford in the early 20th Century and quickly falls in with Sebastion, Lord Sebastian, the troubled, very rich young man with a suffocatingly Catholic mother and a father who's escaped her choke hold for a cheerier life in Italy leaving the children in her clutches. All the acting was good (Emma Thompson played the mother). But while Ben Whishaw's Sebastian allowed him to be dramatic in a more flamboyant way, Goode had to work within very narrow confines, his eyes and lips doing much of the acting. Or so I remember it.




My questions that beg for Doug's participation in the discussion had to do with the role he was supposed to play. Despite the fact that his mum had died when he was little, and that his father never looked at him when they spoke, which they barely did, he was incredibly comfortable with who he was. His second day at Oxford, though he wasn't from any of the proper prep schools, sitting in a room with Oxford's very out and camp gay crowd - with there being little hint of his prior gay experience - he appears totally at ease with himself and the situation and responds with complete composure to the taunts he receives.

OK, I know the book is famous and I think I saw some episodes when this was a series on tv. Maybe it's all clear in there. But while there were hints here and there that he was trying to fit in, it really isn't until the end that he tells Julia straight out how much he needed being part of Brideshead. Yes, we were told that in scenes along the way, but Goode's calm composure in every situation, seemed too cool. I would have liked to see a bit of self-doubt. The words "I wanted to fit in" weren't accompanied by an edge in his voice, a shadow (not literally, there were plenty of those) on his face. He always knew exactly what to say in dicey situations (well, these were dicey in a very upper class way, like wearing the proper shirt for the occasion, meeting Mother) with no hesitation, with the right inflection, and a hint that this was all rather easy.

Of course, he may have been that rare person who actually had that much comfort at a young age in who he was to carry it off. That would have been what made him so attractive to all around him. And the hint at the end that perhaps he was like Rex, the American, and that all this was simply calculated, was tantalizing, but I didn't see enough of this in his character to give me doubts about his intentions. I'm so naive.

I need to go back and find out which, if any, of the characters the author Evelyn Waugh saw himself as. Doug, fill me in. Or Jay, maybe you have some insights.

Leadership Anchorage Recruiting

This is an unpaid recruiting ad that I'm putting up because I believe in the program and the people running it. Leadership Anchorage is run through the Alaska Humanities Forum. Its aim is to help groom people to take important roles in the community. I've known a number of people who have gone through the program. They mostly are working hard, many with families, even going to school part time - busy people.

But the chance to be in a group of interesting people, examine who you are, what you want to be, and develop strategies to get there makes taking even more time to participate in this program worth it.

Photo from Leadership Anchorage page on the Alaska Humanities Forum website. If you click there, you can read the names of the people in the picture. And a lot more about the program. Besides the people this year, some of the people who have gone through this over the year include:
Janie Leask, First Alaskans Institute
Nils Andreassen, Institute of the North
Liz Posey Urban League of Young Professionals
Bill Wielechowski, Alaska State Senate
Guadalupe Marroquin, Municipality of Anchorage (she works in the Clerk's Office and spared no effort to overcome my fax problems so I could vote in last April's Muni election from Thailand.)
Macon Roberts, Anchorage School Board
Angelina Estrada Burney, State of Alaska


I'll tell you not to be put off by the word Leadership. I have some real heartburn with that word and maybe I'll do a post on it. It doesn't mean you have to be ready to lead your army into battle on horseback. We lead in lots of different ways. Even shy, quiet people can be leaders. If you secretly want to do great things, here's your chance to get a big boost.

Disclosure: Jim MacKenzie, the director of the program, was a student of mine in the public administration program at UAA. (Some of my former students turned out ok.) He's really, really smart and thoughtful. He spent about ten years in Japan and speaks Japanese well enough to have acted as an interpreter for all sorts of business and political exchanges while working for the Anchorage Japanese Consul. (I had trouble communicating to Doug who speaks actual English English.) I promise you that the participants of this program do not work harder than Jim does.

So, if you ever thought that you should be doing more good work than you are now, or that you could use a group of eager peers to help you make Anchorage, Alaska, or the world a better place, go check out the rest of this post and the website.



Leadership Anchorage Now Accepting Applications!

Leadership Anchorage applications for the 2008-2009 class are now
available. As applications are received, interviews will be
scheduled, with the final application deadline being September 8,
2008. [The program year begins with an overnight retreat at the end
of September.

Leadership Anchorage is a nationally recognized, rigorous program for
adults. It is designed to expose the leaders of non-profit,
neighborhood, business, and ethnic organizations to the larger power
brokers of Anchorage and Alaska. After eleven years, more than two
hundred graduates, and recognition as one of the top civic leadership
programs in the country, the program continues to grow and expand its
reach. Program participants over nine months experience a two-day
retreat and nine rigorous, full-day sessions (mostly on Saturdays).
These sessions include speaker presentations from established leaders
in the community, readings in the humanities and on leadership as
well as group dynamic learning exercises designed to facilitate the
development of critical leadership skill sets.

The cornerstones of LA's curriculum are a one-on-one mentorship
program, and a civic service related group project designed to
address an expressed need in the community. The goal: more effective
community leadership with a wider and more diverse network of
connections.

Open to individuals who have already demonstrated a commitment to
their community, have already shown leadership skills, but who would
benefit from intensive leadership training. Anchorage residency is
not required. Diversity is crucial; there is no ceiling on age.

For further information, contact Jim MacKenzie at 272-5324 or
jmackenzie@akhf.org.

2008~2009 Program Links
http://www.akhf.org/programs/leadership/leadership_applications.html

The Sears Mall Is Truly Ugly

There are places all over town where green is disappearing and structures are taking its place. But there are some places in town that are so ugly, they are begging to be replaced. The Sears Mall certainly qualifies as one of the prime spots.

Imagine an eye-soothing, noise absorbing four foot high tree topped green berm bordering Benson, Northern Lights, and Seward Highway. Real architecture with interesting lines, aesthetic surfaces, functional design and spaces both inside and out.

Let's hope no one nominates this eyesore for the Historic Preservation List. Instead it should go on the to-tear-down-and-make-beautiful list. If people stop shopping there, maybe it will happen sooner. Or to keep people shopping there the owners could start engaging the community to turn this prime location into a beautiful urban oasis.

Rich M. Wanda's Low Profile Campaign

On Telephone Ave. near Denali.


It's low budget too.



You can go to the Federal Election Commission to see the rest of this chart and how much other candidates have raised and spent.

CH2M Hill: "From time to time, ... the U.S. government investigate[s] whether we conduct our operations in accordance with applicable regulatory ..."

I caught this because someone got to my blog by Googling "ch2m contract fraud." I looked to see what else they found. CH2M Hill bought Veco, according to Bill Allen in the Pete Kott trial, at a bargain basement price when he was forced to sell. When the name on the VECO building was changed last year, I pondered whether CH2M Hill would be a better corporate citizens than VECO had been. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, though some commenters linked to spots that showed they had problems with contracting in Iraq and with Katrina relief. So it seemed a good time to add some more information.

Overall, I don't read SEC filings enough to know if this is in the normal range or not. Let's hope it is not. But let's post it and let others give it some context.

CH2M Hill submitted its Form 10K with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) February 29, 2008. I'm posting here the Legal Proceedings section.

The title quote is a bit of fancy legal writing to make things look pretty benign. My legalese isn't all that good, but I would translate it as:

"We have regular investigations from the US Attorneys to see whether we've violated any laws." Given the lax regulatory enforcement under the Bush administration, it would seem to take some real effort to trigger regular investigations.

But not to worry, sometimes we aren't found guilty.

These investigations often take years to complete and many result in no adverse action.

Key issues they list:

• $ 2 million settlement in Connecticut (still pending conclusion)

"we entered into a deferred prosecution agreement" - a subsidiary worked out a deal with the United States Attorney so they aren't going to be prosecuted is what that sounds like.

The DPA relates to an investigation of a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation at two wastewater treatment facilities in Connecticut. Pursuant to the DPA, the subsidiary contributed $2.0 million to community projects and took other agreed upon steps to enhance CH2M HILL's CWA compliance procedures at the two wastewater treatment facilities in Connecticut

I'm guessing at the translation into English: "We worked out a deal where we paid $2million to various community groups to escape from being prosecuted."

• Veco
  

Although we were satisfied with the results of the due diligence review, no assurances can be given that the ongoing investigations will not result in civil or criminal charges against VECO, now a subsidiary of ours. Any such charges and related publicity could have an adverse effect on our reputation in the business community or future business operations.

• Hanford Nuclear Spill
  

On July 27, 2007, our subsidiary, CH2M HILL Hanford Group ("CH2M Hanford") caused a spill of approximately 85 gallons of radioactive waste, during routine maintenance operations on the Hanford Reservation owned by the United States Department of Energy ("DOE").

It looks like they face a possible $.5 million fine from the State of Washington on that one. (Is the "." a typo? If I were writing it I would have written Half-million rather than have it look like five million. Maybe it was intended to be confusing. Who knows?


The whole Legal Proceedings section is below.


From the Filing:

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are a party to various contractual guarantees and legal actions arising in the normal course of our business. From time to time, agencies of the U.S. government investigate whether we conduct our operations in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements. Because a large portion of our

20


business comes from federal, state, and municipal sources, our procurement practices at times also are subject to review and occasional investigations by U.S. and state attorneys offices. Such state and U.S. government investigations, whether relating to government contracts or conducted for other reasons, could result in administrative, civil or criminal liabilities, including repayments, fines or penalties. These investigations often take years to complete and many result in no adverse action. Damages assessed in connection with and the cost of defending any such actions could be substantial. While the outcomes of pending proceedings are often difficult to predict, as of the date of this filing, our management believes that no ongoing litigation or investigation is likely to result in a material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements.

In January 2006, a subsidiary entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. The DPA relates to an investigation of a Clean Water Act (CWA) violation at two wastewater treatment facilities in Connecticut. Pursuant to the DPA, the subsidiary contributed $2.0 million to community projects and took other agreed upon steps to enhance CH2M HILL's CWA compliance procedures at the two wastewater treatment facilities in Connecticut. Provided CH2M HILL complies with its obligations under the DPA through January 2008, the U.S. District Attorney for the District of Connecticut will recommend dismissal of all actions against the subsidiary in connection with this matter. The violation is related to failure to comply with sampling and reporting requirements of the CWA and there is no evidence the violation resulted in harm to human health or the environment. Although the term of the DPA ended in January 2008 and we believe we have fully complied with the DPA, the DPA will not be released and the criminal charge will not be removed until the U.S. District Attorney for the District of Connecticut is satisfied all conditions have been met. We are currently in discussions with the U.S. District Attorney for the District of Connecticut to achieve this resolution.

In September 7, 2007, we acquired VECO and substantially all of its operating businesses. Prior to the acquisition, on May 2, 2007, the founder, then chief executive officer and principal shareholder of VECO, Bill Allen, entered into a plea agreement with the United States Department of Justice pursuant to which he agreed to plead guilty to certain criminal charges involving bribery of public officials, violation of campaign contribution laws, and tax fraud. In connection with the investigation of the allegations against Mr. Allen, the United States Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and certain State of Alaska government agencies commenced investigations of VECO and certain of its other employees. In the process of reviewing VECO's business and operations prior to the acquisition, we engaged in special due diligence designed to address concerns related to the conduct of VECO's past operations and various investigations underway by the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service and certain State of Alaska government agencies. Although we were satisfied with the results of the due diligence review, no assurances can be given that the ongoing investigations will not result in civil or criminal charges against VECO, now a subsidiary of ours. Any such charges and related publicity could have an adverse effect on our reputation in the business community or future business operations.

On July 27, 2007, our subsidiary, CH2M HILL Hanford Group ("CH2M Hanford") caused a spill of approximately 85 gallons of radioactive waste, during routine maintenance operations on the Hanford Reservation owned by the United States Department of Energy ("DOE"). No one was injured, and the DOE's accident investigation concluded that "[because] of low concentrations and short duration of the exposure, it is not likely that the spill event caused an overexposure or chronic health impacts". CH2M Hanford took all prompt and appropriate steps to formulate and implement a corrective action plan that has been accepted by the DOE. In connection with the event, the DOE's Office of Health, Safety and Security has conducted an investigation under its Price Anderson Act nuclear safety authority. The DOE has not yet taken any formal action against CH2M Hanford as a result of this investigation. The DOE has broad discretion in setting fines, but it takes into account a contractor's prompt acceptance of responsibility and the formulation of an appropriate corrective action

21


plan, which is what CH2M HILL has done to what we believe to be the DOE's satisfaction. The Washington Department of Ecology has proposed to fine the DOE $.5 million in connection with the spill and, if the fine is levied, CH2M HILL will be financially liable for it under our contract with the DOE. CH2M Hanford is in discussions with the the Washington Department of Ecology about a possible reduction of the proposed fine. Finally, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") proposed to fine both the DOE and CH2M HILL in connection with the spill. CH2M HILL settled that fine for $6,800 and $24,000 in in-kind services to support the local Tri-County emergency response team. CH2M HILL's management does not believe that this event will materially impact CH2M HILL's business or results of operations.